Nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) as an animal model for leprosy

Dr. Dharmendra was one of the most distinguished leprologists of our time. He loved India so much that he offered his entire life to fight leprosy, a major health problem in India. He realized the great need in this much neglected field of medicine and willingly gave his utmost, whatever be the cost. He served in the field of leprosy with great distinction and he earned the respect of his fellow workers from all over the world. He made outstanding contributions to the study of leprosy, the identification and isolation of the active principle in the lepromin reagent, the use of lepromin test for identifying persons susceptible to leprosy, the use of an antileprosy drug as a means of chemoprophylaxis, the nurturing of the Indian Journal of Leprosy and developing it as one of the foremost leprosy journals, are a few of his major contributions. He received many well deserved national and international honours and awards. I first met Dr. Dharmendra in 1956 and feel privileged to have known him and to be associated with him all these years. I am honored to be asked to contribute this paper for a publication meant to pay tribute to his memory.